Pandas World Tour – Taipei 1600貓熊世界之旅-臺北 Part 2: Black Bear Brigade

Recently I posted about hundreds of paper pandas coming to Taipei. The final stop for Pandas World Tour – Taipei 1600貓熊世界之旅-臺北 is at Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall, but this time they’ve brought 200 paper Formosan black bears with them. Though the exhibition is almost identical to the earlier one at Taipei City Hall, there are a few differences that stand out. Check out some pictures from my visit.

As I explained in my first post about this exhibition, French artist Paulo Grangeon created 1,600 paper-mache pandas that have toured Europe and finally made their way to Asia. New to the exhibit are the 200 Formosan black bears, the native bear of Taiwan. Though larger versions of these bears were at the Taipei City Hall exhibit, this is the first time the miniature versions made their appearance. They are notably larger than their panda brethren, but their poses are not as diverse.

There are a few differences between the first and second exhibit. Outside of the black bears, the pandas are put on these wooden planks and are more spread out that at Taipei City Hall. This makes it easier to push your way to the front and snap pictures, but I felt that some areas were quite sparse. I also noticed some new gifts in the souvenir shop, including a mock version of the paper-mache pandas.

If you already went to the original exhibit, the addition of the new black bears may not thrill you. However, this is your last chance to see them before they leave Taiwan. Enjoy some snaps.

Chiang Kai-Shek watches over a flurry of bears.

Black bears are scattered among the pandas.

The pandas are more spread out than at the Taipei City Hall exhibit.

I’m not sure if pandas actually do this in the wild.

There are various larger bears to take photos with.

You can hold some of the pandas and take pictures with them. There must have been over a hundred people in line for this.